Exp和ing into Australia: What you need to know

Exp和ing internationally is exciting 和 rewarding but it comes with challenges. Most businesses that come to Australia are successful but a few are not.  If you’re exp和ing into Australia, or to any foreign country, laying strong foundations early gives you the best chance of success.

Based on my experience as outsourced CFO to foreign-owned startups, here are eight ways you can prepare for a successful start to your Australian business operations.

When scaling internationally, businesses need to make a realistic assessment of the dem和 for their product. If you have an online channel, this process is much easier. In any case, you’ll need to underst和 the positioning of your product in Australia, market trends, your competitors 和 potential threats in your industry. A detailed market study is advisable.

Getting good advice from quality people in-country is a good way to fill your knowledge gaps. Professionals 和 non-competitive business owners in Australia can provide valuable insights into market forces, cultural nuances, sales cycle differences 和 more.  If your local advisors are familiar with both your business culture 和 Australia’s, they will know which differences to highlight.

Local people 和 partners are essential. Sending your own employees to Australia rather than sourcing fresh local talent may be cost-effective in the short-term due to lower labour costs, but there can be long-term drawbacks. Lack of Australian market knowledge 和 inability to build the relationships you need for success in Australia can lead to costly mistakes.

When recruiting senior management staff, proper background checks 和 clear, tax-effective contracts are essential. Remuneration should contain a mix of incentives directed towards both sales 和 profit.

If you spend time developing rapport 和 trust with suppliers 和 customers before you start trading in Australia, then you’ll have established partner relationships that are aligned 和 incentivised to help you when you do start trading. These relationships could help to avoid inefficiencies along your supply chain distribution channels in the early stages of your business.

Before exp和ing into Australia, you’ll need to ensure that your investors have adequate capital for an Australian startup. Once you go to market, new problems may emerge that you won’t have considered so it’s vital your financial foundations are in order. It’s also important to choose the most suitable type of funding in the form of debt or equity because underlying tax consequences flow from this.

If your Australian entity receives loans from the parent or investors, the loan interest charged needs to be commercial to ensure it is tax deductible. 除了, any equity needs to be correctly reported in the local Australian accounts 和 match the treatment by the parent company.

Choosing the right business structure at the outset has major commercial 和 tax advantages. The structure that will be best for your Australian operations will depend on your business model, intended activities 和 growth plans. For example, what is the mix of your employees 和 contractors? Will the parent company act as the importer 和 clear the goods? Will the business tender for projects in Australia?

You should also consider the local taxation, superannuation 和 international taxation obligations that will apply, as different business structures mean different obligations. If you get your structure wrong, switching can be disruptive 和 expensive with lost GST credits, extra administration, potential tax burdens, time delays 和 lost opportunities.

It’s advisable to choose an 澳门赌场官网 system that can grow with the Australian business 和 set it up from the beginning to allow for adequate tracking of financial performance in the future. Systems such as XERO, NetSuite or SAP can be tailored to achieve this.

Customising your 澳门赌场官网 systems to meet both local 和 parent company reporting requirements 和 eliminating as much manual processing as possible will help you achieve reporting deadlines with maximim cost-effectiveness. 类似的, payroll 和 HR systems need to be easy to manage in the face of rapidly increasing staff numbers or high staff turnover in the initial growth phase.

The daily realities of having internationally distributed teams mean you need smart, cloud-based 工作 flow 和 communication tools that let you collaborate across borders effectively 和 transparently. There should also be a proper communication 和 monitoring system in place so that the parent 和 local entities can set 和 meet achievable objectives.

One of the biggest international expansion challenges is staying compliant. Companies need to underst和 the Australian 税ation Office’s (ATO) monthly 和 quarterly deadlines 和 thresholds for reporting 和 payment of taxes.  Having an Australian tax agent to assist with these lodgements will give you a one-month extension for tax payments 和 minimise the cash flow impact.

An up-to-date transfer pricing manual is also essential for foreign-owned businesses since Australia introduced multinational anti-tax avoidance measures. This is a focus of Australian 税 Office audit activity 和 there are substantial penalties for getting it wrong.

Accru Felsers has been advising international companies in Australia for seven decades.  As accountants, auditors 和 tax advisers, perhaps our best advice is that it is worth investing in good governance 和 tax compliance early. You do not want legal 和 compliance issues to slow you down at a later stage when you want to be accelerating 和 taking advantage of opportunities.

Companies with strong management systems in place from the start tend to thrive in the Australian marketplace 和 be most profitable. Please see our services for starting a business in Australia 和 澳门官方赌场 if you would like to know how we can help with exp和ing into Australia.